1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint connector having a bus bar which can be used for an automobile wire harness, for example, and can arbitrarily cause an electrical circuits of the wire harness to be branched and joined one to another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, a joint connector of this kind has a construction such that as FIG. 25 shows, for example, a joint box 101 and a connector 102 are coupled with each other. A housing 103 of the joint box 101 has a fitting hole 104 formed therein, and at the rear side of the fitting hole 104 there is fitted a bus bar unit 106 including a bus bar 105 having a desired circuit pattern embedded in a synthetic resin material, the bus bar 105 having tongue-like contacts. The bus bar unit 106 is locked by a locking arm 107 formed in the housing 103.
On the other hand, a housing 108 of the connector 102 has an inner cylinder portion 109, and a multiplicity of terminal housing holes 110 are provided in the inner cylinder portion 109. Housed in the terminal housing holes 110 are connecting terminals 113 which connect electrical conductor 111 to the rear side of terminal housing hole, with a wire seal member 112 fitted on electrical conductor 111. Connecting terminal 113 is prevented from slipping out rearward by a locking arm 114. On the outer periphery of the inner cylinder portion 109 at the front end thereof, with a seal member 115 fitted thereon, a front holder 116 is set in position and locked to the housing 108 by a locking arm 117 of the front holder 116.
When the front holder 116 and the seal member 115 are fitted in the fitting hole 104 of the joint box 101, the joint box 101 and the connector 102 become jointed together in waterproof condition so that desired connector terminals 113 are short-circuited by the bus bar 105 to form a circuit.
Whereas above described prior art bus bar unit 106, shown by way of example, is such that a bus bar 105 having a desired circuit pattern is embedded in a synthetic resin material, a joint connector is also known such that a cut bus bar is set in a housing molded from a synthetic resin material to form a desired circuit pattern.
In the above described prior art examples, however, since a bus bar 105 having a desired circuit pattern is embedded in a synthetic resin material, and in case that cut bus bars are set in a housing molded from a synthetic resin material to form a desired circuit pattern, so that different circuit patterns are required, it is necessary to provide a multiplicity of bus bars 105 according to the different circuit patterns and to set cut bus bars 105 in the housing. This poses the problem of increased production cost.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a joint connector which eliminates above mentioned problems, has a circuit arrangement easy to construct, and is inexpensive.